ROGERS: PERSON CENTERED THEORY

PSYCH 303 – THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

CARL ROGERS: PERSON-CENTERED THEORY  Rogers always insisted that the theory should remain
tentative, and it is with this thought that one should
TOPIC OUTLINE approach a discussion of Rogerian personality theory
1 Overview of Client-Centered Theory  Wanted to be a farmer, a scientific farmer
2 Biography of Carl Rogers  However, he never did become a farmer. After two years
3 Person-Centered Theory of college, he changed his life goal from agriculture to the
4 Psychotherapy ministry and later to psychology.
5 The Person of Tomorrow  He was quite shy and lacking in social skills.
6 Critique of Rogers  A sensitive boy, he was easily hurt by the teasing he
7 Concept of Humanity received from classmates and siblings.
 Rogers developed humanistic theory of personality that
grew out of his experiences. Unlike Freud who’s primarily
OVERVIEW OF CLIENT-CENTERED THEORY a theorist, and secondarily a therapist.
 He is best known as the founder of client-centered  Rogers was a consummate therapist but only a reluctant
theory theorist
 Developed a humanistic theory of personality that
grew out of his experiences as a practicing
psychotherapist. PERSON-CENTERED THEORY
 Rogers was a consummate therapist but only a  His approach was first known as “nondirective,” Later, his
reluctant theorist. approach was variously termed “client-centered,”
 He was more concerned with helping people than “person-centered,” “student-centered,” “group-
with discovering why they behaved as they did. centered,” and “person to person.” We use the label
 To him, theories seemed to make things too cold and client-centered in reference to Rogers’s therapy and the
external, and he worried that his theory might imply a more inclusive term person-centered to refer to Rogerian
measure of finality. personality theory.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
BIOGRAPHY OF CARL ROGERS
 What are the basic assumptions of person-centered
 Carl Ransom Rogers was born on January 8, 1902, in Oak
theory? Rogers postulated two broad
Park, Illinois, the fourth of six children born to Walter and
assumptions—the formative tendency and the
Julia Cushing Rogers.
actualizing tendency.
 From farming to religion (minister) to psychology
 Rogers was influenced by the progressive education
Formative  A tendency for all matter, both
movement of John Dewey
Tendency organic and inorganic, to evolve from
 His life would now take a new direction—toward
simpler to more complex forms.
psychology and education.
 He also attended a lecture by Alfred Adler, who shocked
Actualizing  A tendency within all humans (and
Rogers and the other staff members with his contention
Tendency other animals and plants) to move
that an elaborate case history was unnecessary for
toward completion or fulfillment of
psychotherapy.
potentials
 During the early phase of his professional career, Rogers
 This tendency is the only motive
was strongly influenced by the ideas of Otto Rank, who
people possess
had been one of Freud’s closest associates before his
 The need to satisfy one’s hunger
dismissal from Freud’s inner circle.
drive, to express deep emotions
 Despite his early problems with interpersonal
when they are felt, and to accept
relationships, Rogers grew to become a leading proponent
one’s self are all examples of the
of the notion that the interpersonal relationship between
single motive of actualization.
two individuals is a powerful ingredient that cultivates
 Because each person operates as one
psychological growth within both persons.
complete organism, actualization
involves the whole person—
physiological and intellectual,
 rational and emotional, conscious they learn what feels pleasant and what does not.
and unconscious. They then begin to evaluate experiences as positive
or negative, using as a criterion the actualizing
Subsumed within the actualizing tendency. Because nourishment is a requirement for
tendency: actualization, infants value food and devalue hunger.
 The need for (1) maintenance is They also value sleep, fresh air, physical contact, and
similar to the lower steps on health because each of these is needed for
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; but it actualization.
also includes the tendency to resist  Self-actualization is a subset of the actualization
change and to seek the status quo. tendency and is therefore not synonymous with it.
 Desire to protect their current,  Actualization tendency refers to organismic
comfortable self-concept experiences of the individual; that is, it refers to the
 Fight against new ideas whole person—conscious and unconscious,
 They distort experiences that do physiological and cognitive.
not quite fit  Self-actualization is the tendency to actualize the
 They find change painful and self as perceived in awareness.
growth frightening  Discrepancy may exists between the actualization
 But also willing to learn and to tendency and the self-actualization tendency if the
change… organismic experience and the perceived self are not
 This need to become more, to in harmony
develop, and to achieve growth is
called (2) enhancement The Self-  Includes all those aspects of one’s
 Willingness to learn things that are Concept being and one’s experiences that are
not immediately rewarding perceived in awareness (though not
 Rogers’s position is that people are always accurately) by the individual
willing to face threat and pain  Not identical with organismic-self
because of a biologically based (because part of the individual or his
tendency for the organism to fulfill experiences maybe denied or
its basic nature (ex: a baby tries to distorted if it doesn’t fit with the self-
walk even if he falls) concept)
 People have within themselves the  An established self-concept does not
creative power to solve problems, make change impossible, merely
to alter their self-concepts, and to difficult. Change most readily occurs
become increasingly self-directed in an atmosphere of acceptance by
 Individuals perceive their others, which allows a person to
experiences as reality reduce anxiety and threat and to
 Organism can reach their full take ownership of ed experiences.
genetic-potential provided certain
conditions are present (both The Ideal  Defined as one’s view of self as one
necessary and sufficient conditions Self wishes to be a wide gap between the
for becoming a fully functioning or ideal self and the self-concept
self-actualizing person.). indicates incongruence and an
 These conditions don’t cause it but unhealthy personality
permit actualization

AWARENESS
THE SELF AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION  Without awareness the self-concept and the ideal
 According to Rogers, infants begin to develop a self would not exist.
vague concept of self when a portion of their  Defined awareness as “the symbolic
experience becomes personalized and differentiated representation (not necessarily in verbal symbols)
in awareness as “I” or “me” experiences. Infants of some portion of our experience”
gradually become aware of their own identity as
  He used the term synonymously with both others, especially significant others, care for, prize, or
consciousness and symbolization value us, then our need to receive positive regard is at
least partially satisfied
Levels of  First, some events are experienced  Positive regard is a prerequisite for positive self-regard
Awareness below the threshold of awareness and (experience of prizing or valuing one’s self)
are either ignored or denied  Receiving positive regard from others is necessary for
 Ignored-too many stimuli; some positive self-regard, but once positive self-regard is
others are ignored established, it becomes independent of the continual
 Denied-a mother who never wanted need to be loved.
children, but out of guilt she becomes  This conception is quite similar to Maslow’s notion
overly caring to them. Her anger that we must satisfy our love and belongingness needs
toward her children may never reach before self-esteem needs can become active, but once
consciousness but yet remain a part of we begin to feel confident and worthy, we no longer
her experience and coloring her require a replenishing supply of love and approval
conscious behavior toward them. from others.
 Second, some experiences are
accurately symbolized and freely
admitted to the self-structure (such
experiences are both nonthreatening BARRIERS TO PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH
and consistent with the existing self-  Not everyone becomes a psychologically healthy
concept) person. Rather, most people experience conditions of
 Third, involves experiences that are worth, incongruence, defensiveness, and
perceived in a distorted form. (When disorganization
our experience is not consistent with
our view of self, we reshape or distort Conditions of  Perceive that their parents, peers,
the experience so that it can be Worth or partners love and accept them
assimilated into our existing self- only if they meet those people’s
concept.) expectations and approval. “A
condition of worth arises when the
Denial of  Many people have difficulty accepting positive regard of a significant other
Positive genuine compliments and positive is conditional
Experiences feedback, even when deserved.  Conditions of worth become the
 (Ex: I got a high grade because it’s just criterion by which we accept or
an easy subject) reject our experiences.
 Genuine positive feedback or positive  We gradually assimilate into our
experience may not be able to self-structure the attitudes we
penetrate their self-concept. perceive others expressing toward
us, and in time we begin to evaluate
experiences on this basis.
BECOMING A PERSON  From early childhood forward, most
 Processes necessary to becoming a person: of us learn to disregard our own
 First, an individual must make contact—positive or organismic valuations and to look
negative—with another person beyond ourselves for direction and
 This is the minimum experience necessary for guidance. To the degree that we
becoming a person (a child must experience some introject the values of others, that
contact from a caregiver to survive) is, accept conditions of worth, we
 As children (or adults) become aware that another tend to be incongruent or out of
person has some measure of regard for them, they balance. Other people’s values can
begin to value positive regard and devalue negative be assimilated only in distorted
regard fashion or at the risk of creating
 That is, the person develops a need to be loved, liked, disequilibrium and conflict within
or accepted by another person, a need that Rogers the self.
referred to as positive regard. If we perceive that
  Our perceptions of other people’s on other people’s expectations and
view of us are called external evaluations of us.
evaluations.  Vulnerability The greater the
 These evaluations, whether positive incongruence between our
or negative, do not foster perceived self and our organismic
psychological health but, rather, experience, the more vulnerable we
prevent us from being completely are. People are vulnerable when
open to our own experiences they are unaware of the
 When our own experiences are discrepancy between their
distrusted, we distort our organismic self and their significant
awareness of them, thus solidifying experience. Lacking awareness of
the discrepancy between our their incongruence, vulnerable
organismic evaluation and the people often behave in ways that
values we have introjected from are incomprehensible not only to
others. As a result, we experience others but also to themselves
incongruence  Anxiety and Threat whereas
vulnerability exists when we have
Incongruence  We have seen that the organism no awareness of the incongruence
and the self are two separate within our self, anxiety and threat
entities that may or may not be are experienced as we gain
congruent with one another. Also awareness of such an incongruence
recall that actualization refers to  Anxiety is defined as “a state of
the organism’s tendency to move uneasiness or tension whose cause
toward fulfillment, whereas self- is unknown”
actualization is the desire of the  As we become more aware of the
perceived self to reach fulfillment. incongruence between our
 Psychological disequilibrium begins organismic experience and our
when we fail to recognize our perception of self, our anxiety
organismic experiences as self- begins to evolve into threat: that is,
experiences: that is, when we do an awareness that our self is no
not accurately symbolize longer whole or congruent
organismic experiences into  Anxiety and threat can represent
awareness because they appear to steps toward psychological health
be inconsistent with our emerging because they signal to us that our
self-concept. organismic experience is
 Conditions of worth that we inconsistent with our self-concept.
received during early childhood
lead to a somewhat false self- Defensiveness  In order to prevent this
concept, one based on distortions inconsistency between our
and denials. The self-concept that organismic experience and our
emerges includes vague perceived self, we react in a
perceptions that are not in defensive manner
harmony with our organismic  Defensiveness is the protection of
experiences, and this incongruence the self-concept against anxiety and
between self and experience leads threat by denying or distorting
to discrepant and seemingly experiences inconsistent with it
inconsistent behaviors. Sometimes  2 chief defenses are distortion and
we behave in ways that maintain or denial:
enhance our actualizing tendency,  1Distortion, we misinterpret an
and at other times, we may behave experience in order to fit it into
in a manner designed to maintain some aspect of our self-concept.
or enhance a self-concept founded We perceive the experience in
 awareness, but we fail to Counselor  The first necessary and sufficient
understand its true meaning Congruence condition for therapeutic change is a
 2Denial, we refuse to perceive an congruent therapist. Congruence
experience in awareness, or at least exists when a person’s organismic
we keep some aspect of it from experiences are matched by an
reaching symbolization awareness of them and by an ability
and willingness to openly express
Disorganization  Sometimes defenses fail and these feelings
behavior becomes disorganized or  Like most other people, congruent
psychotic therapists are constantly exposed to
 But why would defenses fail to new organismic experiences, but
function? unlike most people, they accept
 When the incongruence between these experiences into awareness,
people’s perceived self and their which contributes to their
organismic experience is either too psychological growth.
obvious or occurs too suddenly to  Because congruence involves (1)
be denied or distorted, their feelings, (2) awareness, and (3)
behavior becomes disorganized. expression, incongruence can arise
 Ironically, people are particularly from either of the two points
vulnerable to disorganization during dividing these three experiences.
therapy, especially if a therapist
accurately interprets their actions Unconditional  Positive regard is the need to be
and also insists that they face the Positive liked, prized, or accepted by another
experience prematurely Regard person. When this need exists
 In a state of disorganization, people without any conditions or
sometimes behave consistently qualifications, unconditional
with their organismic experience positive regard occurs
and sometimes in accordance with  Although therapists may value some
their shattered self-concept. client behaviors more than others,
their positive regard remains
constant and unwavering.
 External evaluation, whether
positive or negative, leads to clients’
PSYCHOTHERAPY defensiveness and prevents
 Rogerian therapy, therefore, can be viewed in terms of psychological growth
conditions, process, and outcomes.  “Regard” means that there is a close
 First, an anxious or vulnerable client must come into relationship and that the therapist
contact with a congruent therapist who also possesses sees the client as an important
empathy and unconditional positive regard for that client. person
 Next, the client must perceive these characteristics in the  “Positive” indicates that the
therapist. direction of the relationship is
 Finally, the contact between client and therapist must be toward warm and caring feelings
of some duration.  “Unconditional” suggests that the
 Even though all three conditions are necessary for positive regard is no longer
psychological growth, Rogers believed that congruence is dependent on specific client
more basic than either unconditional positive regard or behaviors and does not have to be
empathic listening. Congruence is a general quality continually earned
possessed by the therapist, whereas the other two
conditions are specific feelings or attitudes that the Empathic  Empathy exists when therapists
therapist has for an individual client. Listening accurately sense the feelings of their
clients and are able to communicate
these perceptions so that clients
know that another person has
 entered their world of feelings
without prejudice, projection, or Stage 1  Unwillingness to communicate
evaluation.  Extremely rigid and resistant to change
 Empathy “means temporarily living  Don’t recognize problem
in the other’s life, moving about in it  Refuse to own personal feelings
delicately without making
judgments” Stage 2  Slightly less rigid
 Client-centered therapists do not  Discuss external events and other people
take empathy for granted; they  But still disown or fail to recognize own
check the accuracy of their sensings feelings
by trying them out on the client (Ex:  Maytalkaboutfeelingsasiftheywere objective
“It seems to me that...” “Would I be phenomena
right if I say…?”)
 Empathic listening is a powerful tool, Stage 3  More freely talk about self, although still
which along with genuineness and as an object. “I’m doing the best I can at
caring, facilitates personal growth work, but my boss still doesn’t like me.”
within the client
 Clients talk about feelings and emotions
 What precisely is the role of in the past or future tense and avoid
empathy in psychological change? present feelings.
 Empathy is effective because it  Refuse to accept their emotions, keep
enables clients to listen to personal feelings at a distance from the
themselves and, in effect, become here-and-now situation,
their own therapists
 Only vaguely perceive that they can make
 Empathy does not mean that a personal choices
therapist has the same feelings as
 Deny individual responsibility for most of
the client. A therapist does not feel
their decisions.
anger, frustration, confusion,
resentment, or sexual attraction at
Stage 4  Begin to talk of deep feelings but not ones
the same time a client experiences
presently felt (was instead of is)
them. Rather, a therapist is
 They deny or distort experiences,
experiencing the depth of the
although they may have some dim
client’s feeling while permitting the
recognition that they are capable of
client to be a separate person
feeling emotions in the present.
 Empathy does not mean that a
 Begin to question some values that have
therapist has the same feelings as
been introjected from others; start to see
the client. A therapist does not feel
the incongruence between perceived self
anger, frustration, confusion,
and organismic experience.
resentment, or sexual attraction at
the same time a client experiences  Accept more freedom and responsibility
them. Rather, a therapist is than they did in Stage 3 and begin to
tentatively allow themselves to become
experiencing the depth of the
involved in a relationship with the
client’s feeling while permitting the
therapist
client to be a separate person

Stage 5  Begun to undergo significant change and

growth
PROCESS  Express feelings in the present, although
they have not yet accurately symbolized
7 Stages of Therapeutic Change those feelings
 The process of constructive personality change can be  Beginning to rely on an internal locus of
placed on a continuum from most defensive to most evaluation for their feelings and to
integrated. Rogers arbitrarily divided this continuum  Make new discoveries about themselves.
into seven stages. They also
  Experience a greater differentiation of
feelings and develop more appreciation Outcomes  The most basic outcome of successful
for nuances among them client-centered therapy is a congruent
 Begin to make their own decisions and to client who is less defensive and more
accept responsibility for their choices. open to experience.
 Each of the remaining outcomes is a
Stage 6  Experience dramatic growth and an logical extension of this basic one:
irreversible movement toward becoming  Have a clearer picture of themselves
fully functioning or self-actualizing and a more realistic view of the world
 Freely allow into awareness those  Better able to assimilate experiences
experiences that they had previously into the self on the symbolic level
denied or distorted  More effective in solving problems
 Become more congruent  Have a higher level of positive self-
 No longer evaluate their own behavior regard
from an external viewpoint but rely on  Narrow the gap between self-ideal and
their organismic self as the criterion for real self
evaluating experiences.
 Begin to develop unconditional self-
regard
 An interesting concomitant to this stage is THE PERSON OF TOMORROW
a physiological loosening. These people  Whereas Maslow was primarily a researcher,
experience their whole organismic self, as  Rogers was first of all a psychotherapist whose concern
their muscles relax, tears flow, circulation with psychologically healthy people grew out of his
improves, and physical symptoms general theory of therapy.
disappear.  If the three necessary and sufficient therapeutic
 Stage 6 signals an end to therapy. Indeed, conditions of congruence, unconditional positive regard,
if therapy were to be terminated at this and empathy are optimal, then what kind of person
point, clients would still progress to the would emerge?
next level.  More adaptable: would be more likely to survive—hence
the title “persons of tomorrow.”
Stage 7  Can occur outside the therapeutic  Open to their experiences: accurately symbolizing them in
encounter, because growth at Stage 6 awareness
seems to be irreversible  Trust in their organismic selves: They would not depend
 Clients who reach Stage 7 become fully on others for guidance
functioning “persons of tomorrow”  Live fully in the moment: They would see each experience
with a new freshness and appreciate it fully in the present
moment (existential living)
 Ability to experience harmonious relations with other
Theoretical  When persons come to experience  They would feel no need to be liked or loved by everyone,
Explanation themselves as prized and because they would know that they are unconditionally
for unconditionally accepted, they realize prized and accepted by someone.
Therapeutic that they are lovable.  More integrated, more whole, with no artificial boundary
Change between conscious processes and unconscious ones
 As clients perceive that they are  Basic trust of human nature: would not harm others
emphatically understood, they are merely for personal gain; they would care about others
freed to listen to themselves more and be ready to help when needed; they would
accurately, to have empathy for their experience anger but could be trusted not to strike out
own feelings. As a consequence, when unreasonably against others
these persons come to prize themselves  Enjoy a greater richness in life: They would neither distort
and to accurately understand internal stimuli nor buffer their emotions
themselves, their perceived self
becomes more congruent with their
organismic experiences.
 CRITIQUE OF ROGERS

1. Generate research – Average

2. Falsifiability – High
3. Organize Knowledge – High
4. Guide to Action – Uneqiovocal
5. Internally consistent – Very High
6. Parsimonious – the theory itself is unsually clear and
economical, but some of the language is awkward and
vague

CONCEPT OF HUMANITY

 Rogers, however, contended that people have some

degree of free choice and some capacity to be self-
directed. Admitting that some portion of human
behavior is controlled, predictable, and lawful,
Rogers argued that the important values and choices
are within the scope of personal control.
 However, Rogers was also aware that people can be
quite brutal, nasty, and neurotic
 Yet, one of the most refreshing and invigorating
parts of my experience is to work with such
individuals and to discover the strongly positive
directional tendencies which exist in them, as in all
of us, at the deepest levels
 Tendency toward growth and self-actualization has a
biological basis
 Rogers’s theory is also high on teleology, maintaining
that people strive with purpose toward goals that
they freely set for themselves
 Uniqueness than on similarities
 Did not deny the importance of unconscious
processes, his primary emphasis was on the ability of
people to consciously choos
 Biological versus social influences
 No evaluation in terms of morality applies to the
nature of humanity.